Bond hearings (Feb. 8, 2014)The following individuals appeared in felony bond hearings Friday at the Pope County Detention Center. Their names, ages, anticipated charges and bond amounts are listed. If charged, they will appear March 17 in Circuit Court. • Rumaldo Rangel, 39, possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) — $5,000. Rangel was pulled over by an Arkansas State Police trooper during a routine traffic stop. The trooper saw a small bundle of meth fall...

Tenn girl, 5, dies from being forced to drink soda SURGIONSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — An East Tennessee couple faces a murder charge, accused of forcing the man’s 5-year-old daughter to drink more than 2 liters of grape soda and water, causing her brain to swell and rupture, authorities said. According to the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office and the autopsy report, Alexa Linboom was brought in to the emergency room on Jan. 1, 2012, by her father, Randall Vaughn, and his wife, Mary Vaughn. The girl was...

US government to spend $30M on forest restoration HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday it will spend $30 million this year on forest restoration projects in 12 states to reduce the threat of wildfires, protect water quality and improve wildlife habitat for at-risk species. Those first 13 projects will be the start of a multi-year initiative to improve the health of forests and watersheds on public and private lands, Agriculture Undersecretary Robert Bonnie sai...

Ex-Ark. treasurer indicted over campaign cash LITTLE ROCK (AP) — A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted former Treasurer Martha Shoffner, already facing trial next month over accusations she accepted cash payments from a broker to whom she steered investments, on new charges that she spent thousands in campaign funds on personal items. U.S. Attorney Christopher Thyer announced that Shoffner was charged in the superseding indictment with 10 counts of mail fraud over allegations she used...

AG cyber-crimes unit arrests Grant County manLITTLE ROCK (AP) — Officials at the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office have arrested a Grant County man for possession of child pornography. Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said Thursday that 27-year-old Bryan Mitchell Baker of Sheridan was arrested on 30 counts of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child. Baker was being held in the Sheridan Detention Center on $100,000 bond. It was not...

Officials: NY suspect had Hoffman’s cell number NEW YORK (AP) — At least one of four people arrested during an investigation of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman’s suspected fatal heroin overdose had the actor’s cellphone number, two law enforcement officials said Wednesday. Investigators zeroed in on the four after a tipster, responding to publicity about Hoffman’s death, told police he had seen Hoffman at the lower Manhattan apartment building where they were arrested on Tuesday and he believe...

Woman executed in Texas for 1998 torture killing HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A woman convicted of torturing and killing a mentally impaired man she lured to Texas with the promise of marriage was put to death Wednesday evening in a rare execution of a female prisoner. The lethal injection of Suzanne Basso, 59, made the New York native only the 14th woman executed in the U.S. since the Supreme Court in 1976 allowed capital punishment to resume. Almost 1,400 men have been put to death during that...

States look to rein in government surveillance PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Angry over revelations of National Security Agency surveillance and frustrated with what they consider outdated digital privacy laws, state lawmakers around the nation are proposing bills to curtail the powers of law enforcement to monitor and track citizens. Their efforts in at least 14 states are a direct message to the federal government: If you don’t take action to strengthen privacy, we will. “We need to stand up and...

Gov. Beebe announces intent to pardon 5LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Gov. Mike Beebe has announced his intent to grant five pardons. Beebe said in a news release Wednesday that each of the five have completed all jail time, fulfilled all parole- and probation requirements and paid all fines. The five are Bobby Douthit of Lowell; James Hosford of Memphis, Tenn.; Cloris Jean Espinosa Madrid of Rogers; Jeffrey Petty of Beebe; and Latonya Tripp Washington of Forrest City. Douthit was convicted of...

Man rescued from Gosnell fire, then arrested GOSNELL (AP) — Authorities in northeastern Arkansas rescued a man from a burning home — then arrested him later on an outstanding warrant. Gosnell Fire Department Capt. Darryl Grissom says firefighters responded to a trailer fire Monday night. Grissom says flames were shooting out from the front of the trailer when firefighters arrived. Grissom and Gosnell Police Department Cpl. Keith Hill pulled the man to safety through the window of the tra...

Former deputy gets 45 months in prostitution caseHOT SPRINGS (AP) — A former Garland County Sheriff’s Department deputy has been sentenced to 45 months in prison after pleading guilty to arranging for a 17-year-old girl to cross state lines to engage in prostitution. Neil Parliment had faced up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty in July to one felony count of enticement of an individual to travel in interstate commerce for purposes of prostitution. During Monday’s sentencing, Parlim...

Death row inmate asks for hearing in case LITTLE ROCK (AP) — A lawyer for an Oklahoma man sentenced to die for the slayings of three members of an Arkansas family asked a federal judge Friday to grant a hearing on whether his death sentence should be overturned. Danny Lee, 45, of Yukon, Okla., was convicted along with Chevie Kehoe in the 1996 slayings of gun dealer William Mueller, his wife, Nancy Mueller, and their young daughter, Sarah. Their bodies were found in the Illinois Bayou ...

Attorney says trial can’t proceed without video FORT SMITH (AP) — The attorney for one of two Arkansas brothers charged with murder in Oklahoma has told a judge he can’t finish preparing for trial without video investigators in Fort Smith took when his client was arrested. Johnathen Don James Edward Thacker, 25, and his brother Elvis Aaron Thacker, 26, are charged with first-degree murder and forcible sodomy in the death of 22-year-old Briana Jane Ault, of Fort Smith. Ault’s body was discov...

Darr makes resignation official in letter to state LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Three weeks after saying he’d step down over ethics violations tied to his campaign and office spending, Arkansas Lt. Gov. Mark Darr made his resignation official on Friday. Darr submitted his resignation letter to Secretary of State Mark Martin, stepping down in the wake of an $11,000 fine he received from the state Ethics Commission. Darr announced on Jan. 10 that would resign but hadn’t submitted a formal letter to Gov. M...

Suspect walks away from hospitalOne suspect in a burglary earlier this week escaped from a Conway hospital on Thursday, and a second suspect was ordered held in lieu of $500,000 bond. Michael Mitchell, 26, was at Conway Regional Medical Center being treated for injuries sustained while fleeing from police early Wednesday morning. A press release issued by the Conway Police Department on Friday stated Mitchell left the hospital, either on foot or with someone. Mitchell, and a...

Bond hearings (Feb. 1., 2014)The following individuals appeared in felony bond hearings Wednesday at the Pope County Detention Center. Their names, ages, anticipated charges and bond amounts are listed below. If charged, they will appear March 3 in Circuit Court. n Gordon Novak, 64, delivery of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) — $10,000. A narcotics investigator with the Arkansas State Police testified that confidential informants working with the Fifth Judicial T...

Woman wanted for posing as school nurse arrested LITTLE ROCK (AP) — A woman accused of working as a nurse at an elementary school in Searcy while not holding a nursing license made a first appearance in federal court on Thursday after more than a year of eluding authorities. Susan Elaine Boyce, 59, formerly of Pleasant Plains, was arrested Wednesday night in Howell County, Mo., by inspector general agents of the Social Security Administration and sheriff’s deputies. Boyce was named in a seve...

Hearing set for defendant in overthrow plot case LITTLE ROCK (AP) — A man sentenced to die for the slayings of an Arkansas gun dealer and his family is to argue before a federal judge on Friday for a new sentencing hearing on grounds that the results of an invalid test were put before the jury. Danny Lee, 45, of Yukon, Okla. was convicted in the 1996 slayings of William Mueller, his wife, Nancy, and young daughter, Sarah. Lee and Chevie Kehoe, who also robbed the family, were trying to estab...

Suspect in fatal Little Rock shooting is arrested LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Police in Little Rock say a man wanted in the weekend shooting death of another man on the city’s west side has been arrested. Police Lt. Sidney Allen said in a statement that the suspect was arrested Thursday afternoon for the Saturday shooting death of 22-year-old Shoncoven Smith. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported (http://bit.ly/1bbvAOH ) that Smith was taken to a Little Rock hospital after the shooting and died about...